The AWS CI/CD attack surface — CodeBuild project configurations, CodePipeline triggers, buildspec.yml files, and build-runner IAM roles — is one of the most under-monitored layers in modern cloud environments. This article ships a focused hunt playbook for the four most exploited CI/CD compromise patterns observed in production incidents.
GuardDuty is the default-on threat-detection service in AWS — and sophisticated adversaries actively engineer their operations to avoid triggering its findings. This article catalogues nine specific evasion techniques observed in cloud incident response, and ships the hunt patterns that surface the silence itself.
Adversaries are increasingly weaponising AWS KMS for ransomware — encrypting victim data with attacker-controlled keys, modifying key policies to lock out the legitimate owner, and using grant tokens for stealth access. This hunt playbook covers the techniques, the detection logic, and the response actions for KMS-mediated ransomware.
CloudTrail is the cornerstone of AWS threat detection — but it has structural blind spots adversaries deliberately exploit. This guide maps 12 places CloudTrail does not log by default, the techniques that abuse each gap, and the compensating hunt patterns that fill the visibility hole.
A 2026 threat hunting playbook with seven battle-tested Sigma rules, a MITRE ATT&CK coverage matrix, and success metrics for SOC analysts, threat hunters, and detection engineers. Hunt the techniques, not the indicators.
